The African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) held a “very successful” seminar in the Rwandan capital that brought together experts on international and humanitarian law with the aim of enhancing the protection of civilians as the AU battles militants in Mogadishu.
Says Mr Wafula Wamunyinyi, the deputy Special Representative of the AU in Somalia: “What we require now is the political will. What we decided here will have to be approved by the leadership of the African Union.’’
Earlier, addressing the meeting, Mr Boubacar Diarra, the AU’s special representative in Somalia said: “We went to Somalia to help dialogue and reconciliation and to help in delivery of humanitarian assistance but we face groups that don’t agree with the model of democracy we want to instal in Somalia.’’
In a discussion that got a lot of inputs from experts, among them Mr Walter Lotze, an AU adviser on peace-keeping and Ms Funmi Vogt, of the King’s College London, African Leadership Centre, the AU’s current mandate was dissected and the bad news was that despite the fact that its troops are offering humanitarian assistance to displaced persons in Mogadishu - the Somali capital - the mandate under which the force was created by the UN in 2007 did not specifically authorise its officers to help civilians.
It is now the duty of the AU’s peace and Security Council to come up with guidelines for the protection of civilians.
Said Mr Diarra: “We want our peacekeepers to know their duty and responsibility to the Somali people. We deal with an environment where the protection of civilians is important.’’
It is now the duty of the AU’s peace and Security Council to come up with guidelines for the protection of civilians.
Said Mr Diarra: “We want our peacekeepers to know their duty and responsibility to the Somali people. We deal with an environment where the protection of civilians is important.’’
The meeting noted that al Shabaab, the radical group battling the country’s transitional federal government, engaged in provocative action, but it was the duty of Amisom peacekeepers not to fall in this trap.
The gathering was told of the setting up “no fire zones’’ in which Amisom peacekeepers would avoid hitting back if al Shabaab fired from any populated area such as Bakara market or a mosque.
Amisom’s political officer James Nagin said: “Somalis need gainful employment, they need to put food on the table.’’
He disclosed that 1.4 million Somalis were internally displaced and living in camps while 600,000 others were in refugee camps in neighbouring Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia. Some Somalis have been living in camps for the past 20 years.
Mr Nagin said Amisom’s mandate in Somalia was to facilitate dialogue among various groups and to protect the transitional federal government and its institutions, but before it can protect Somalis, it must first protect its own soldiers.
He said: “We are not in Somalia to fight al Shabaab. For our force commanders, it is a big dilemma if your troops are attacked and you don’t respond.’’
The officer added that the biggest hurdle Amisom faced was the stalemate at the political level in Somalia that has seen a major turnover of political leaders even at the presidential and Prime Minister level as seen in the recent Kampala Accord that saw Mr Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed shown the door as prime minister in a deal involving the president Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden.
Somalia has been without an effective government since the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Source: The Daily Nation
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